Unlike my previous encounters with dark elves back in New Bay, this group wasn’t acting like assassins, though perhaps they had expected their laser attacks to be more devastating and take us out instantly. Either way, their reactions as soon as they noticed their ambush didn’t take any of us down were to reposition. Perhaps they were retreating, but as they all moved in different directions taking shelter behind various stalagmites that didn’t seem to be the end goal.

After throwing Light at a few people- some of which now effectively had a beacon sticking to them- my first reaction was to use Haste on our various melee combatants. That meant Honey Badger, Twirl, Iron Hawk, and of course Fluffy. Technically that meant also snagging Zeb who did the sensible thing and ran for cover herself. Maybe if she had her own laser she would fight back, but she was mostly around to manage the rust mole. And because she thought it would be fun.

Midnight took advantage of his low profile, as he had his suit adapt to the dull gray colors of the stone around us- harder to pick out for those who could see in the dark than his natural black fur. He fought with a combination of Shocking Grasp, the Light spell, and of course his own lasers.

Boom’s first spell worked best up close, but fortunately he had been able to learn Shatter, a useful sonic spell that exploded out from a point. The results were fairly predictable- everyone’s ears hurt, and the people near where he targeted sustained some damage. Oh, and one of the stalagmites exploded. Fortunately it didn’t seem to be necessary for the structure of the cave to hold up, but he might want to be careful.

Bolster first cast Enlarge on Honey Badger. While it made him a bigger target, the increase in reach was quite valuable- and it made his borrowed shield proportionately larger as well. Whenever Energy Ward was worn through he should still be safe enough. He also moved fast enough to catch even the agile opponents we were facing, striking one with his hammer. It just grazed their shoulder, but that sent them tumbling- and they would have quite a difficult time raising a laser rifle after that.

Twirl didn’t have a big shield, but he had been trained to fight against firearms just like anyone in New Bay. He made good use of the terrain, circling around behind one of the enemies and scoring a graze along his ribcage. Not immediately debilitating, but he followed up by grabbing for the man’s gun as he turned to retreat.

Iron Hawk brought her staff down on someone’s head with a loud crack. The man tumbled to the floor… and then she stopped. She was just frozen in place. I hadn’t sensed any magic, but she just stood there as one of the enemies took a shot. Fortunately Sir Kalman was close enough to position himself in front of her. We’d have to figure out what happened there, but the battle was still ongoing.

Fluffy moved with great speed, charging towards a woman. I could see the fear in her eyes as her lasers did nothing except cause his fur to faintly glow. His mouth opened wide and she screamed as he chomped down on her gun. Because what else would he bite? Certainly not her face. The woman took off running as Fluffy munched on the weapon and licked the laser goop off his face. I still didn’t know how that part worked but I was glad it did. And also that Fluffy’s meal was faster because of Haste so he could move on quickly.

Bandage focused on refreshing protections, as mitigating damage was more effective than healing people. She wasn’t shy about running up behind Iron Hawk and dragging her back behind proper cover. The other Hasted individuals were generally beyond where she could catch up to them.

Our enemies weren’t actually weak, and indeed they should have been higher level than most of our own group- except for myself and Sir Kalman. Oh, and then there was Malaliel who seemed to have disappeared. I doubted she was afraid of a few lasers, though.

That was the determining factor, really. If these enemies had fought like locals, our squad might have actually been worse off. The Portal Squad had received months of training which pushed them past the very early levels, but they wouldn’t directly be a match for people like this. However, the lasers were new weapons for the enemy but not a surprise for us- and most of our own gear was unfamiliar to them. We would look strange to them, even if most of us had familiar powers.

I blinded a few more people when I got the opportunity, very much appreciating the efficiency of Basic Light Magic in such a situation. Even if the light didn’t last long as people resisted it clinging to them- it didn’t have the power of other light spells- it was enough of a surprise since it was a deviation from normal practice- and it was doubly effective in the dark against those already sensitive to light.

Ultimately, we caught a half dozen dark elves and the same number of laser guns. Not all of the weapons matched up with a captured individual, but that didn’t really matter. I spotted Malaliel herself dragging back two of them… she might have been able to get more, but was limited by her anatomy.

There was also one casualty- the one Iron Hawk slammed over the head. That was why she had frozen up. Because despite her training and general demeanor, she had never killed anyone before. Which was… quite normal, really. Even super mercenaries were supposed to favor non-lethal options in most circumstances. No doubt she had treated her opponent like an enemy super- which was technically correct- but despite levels providing some security a direct hit to the head wasn’t something these skirmisher types would survive. Normally they might have rolled with the blow or the like, but Haste had probably thrown off their reaction as well.

A proper helmet might have helped the man, but it might not have as the impact of her blow still would have traveled into his spine. Iron Hawk had likely also felt the seriousness of the situation, instinctively striking harder. And now we were here.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“It’s totally reasonable,” Sir Kalman assured her. “They’re enemy soldiers who were trying to kill you. But it’s also normal to feel shock the first time it happens.”

Was I supposed to have been more shocked? I had killed a number of monsters before I killed any humans, and the only one I’d specifically sought to kill was Handface. Thinking of his death… still didn’t bother me. There had probably been a few others, but I didn’t remember them.

But I did care about people dying. The thought of Midnight or Izzy or Khithae or any of my other friends dying was highly unpleasant, and I’d probably feel bad for a random civilian. So I wasn’t an unfeeling monster. That was good enough for me.

Iron Hawk was breathing heavily. Finally, she spoke. “Usually when I’ve cracked skulls it’s been a little… less. I’ve been that serious in training, though more careful about where I target I guess.”

We always used Force Armor on top of our gear, though. Which was an entire extra normal person’s life- like a level 0 person, but a healthy adult. Vaguely. We didn’t have anything so well defined for health as mana. Some classes made people tougher, but even though I had numbers that indicated the power of a spell I couldn’t ever guarantee that it would or would not kill any particular individual. Well, I had a few things that I could guarantee would kill any non-super but I never really interacted with any of those.

Midnight ended up on my shoulder again. I turned to whisper to him. “Nothing I would say would help here, would it?”

“I doubt it,” Midnight replied. “It would be something like ‘you’ll get used to it’ or ‘don’t worry it was just a villain’?”

“That’s not that different from what Sir Kalman said,” I pointed out. “But yeah.”

“Better to not,” Midnight said. “She seems like the type to get over it well enough. She’s already calming down.”

As usual, Zeb’s antics helpfully brought us away from such thoughts. “Noo, Fluffy, don’t eat the Mark III Rapid Fire Light Emitters! We need them for science!”

“So you recognize these particular weapons?” Malaliel asked.

“Nope!” Zeb said. “Just some of these bits inside.” She paused. “That’s weird, isn’t it? Bunvorixian guns are made to be used with our anatomy but these are clearly humanoid rifles.”

“So what does that imply?” Malaliel asked. Surely she already had her own thoughts on the matter, but didn’t want to bias others.

“There’s the easy answer, of course,” I said. “Since one person is responsible for most of the portal shenanigans and recently came into what I assume is a whole shipful of Bunvorixian weapons. And is also known for modifying things.”

“Are any of these other components super tech?” Malaliel asked.

I felt over them. “Nope. Not even the uh… emitters. Because Bunvorixian tech actually works without breaking any fundamental laws. Or at least, what I’ve seen of it.” In short, it didn’t feel like a power. They all felt different, but in that vein they all felt like something. And these just looked like guns. “I don’t know if that means it couldn’t be Doctor Doomsday.”

“Unfortunately,” Malaliel said, “A tech super can just put together functional components into a new form without it being super tech. Or at least, ones with sufficient skill. Most of them would have the urge to boost things, though.”

“It’d be cheaper not to, right?” I said.

“Indeed,” Malaliel said.

Midnight was looking over the weapons as well. “My suit indicates it’s about 60% Bunvorixian components. All of the important stuff, really.”

“At least that confirms the need for our continued presence,” Malaliel said. “Though I think it might be best for us to retreat for now. What do you think, Sir Kalman?”

“We’ve got prisoners and weapons. If we continue on, most likely we run into a larger or more functional ambush. These folk weren’t looking for us. Just someone.”

“Whoa!” Iron Hawk suddenly interrupted. “I leveled up!”

Yeah, she’d probably be fine.

“Real battles are good experience,” I commented. “Make sure to spend your points wisely. I’d recommend saving them for later when you need to unlock new things, since training can increase ranks and you have a local teacher for you to learn some new abilities without points while we’re here.”

I noticed Honey Badger talking to his sister- not uncommon, but they were being rather secretive. Maybe it was about the same sort of thing as Iron Hawk. Hmm, was I learning insight into people? Well, maybe only as it related to combat. Either way, I took note that neither he nor Twirl had struck lethal blows, despite being Hasted and able to line up proper strikes. They didn’t have to be lethal, but most relevantly they also hadn’t been fully incapacitating. Probably the borrowed weapons, though whether it was lack of familiarity or timidity wasn’t clear.

I supposed we needed to talk to them about it. Or maybe I could have someone else talk about it. I wasn’t going to tell them they should ignore whether or not people would die, but properly incapacitating their enemy was important. For example, if our barbarian had hit his target in the wrist or elbow and shattered it, that would have been a step more effective than the damage to the shoulder. Best would be following up on the other side.

And they could fix mangled arms here! Not that they necessarily would, especially for prisoners of war, but this world could produce as many healers as they wanted. Which made me feel like there were further issues because there should have been more people who knew Regenerate. Then again, Mossley hadn’t had much need for things like that… and there had been a few magical healers.

These were questions for people who actually knew everything they wanted to about the world, but sadly much of that had been hidden from me. I’d have to work to learn more as the opportunities presented themselves.